ACT Companion Dog Club

Individuality

In order to be successful at training your dog it is important that you should understand what sort of individual he or she is, and how their mind works.

Each dog is an individual, differing in many ways (physical and mental) from other dogs, even those of the same breed, and even within a single litter. As with people these differences are due to both inherited qualities (nature) and to the environment in which they have grown up (nurture).

With a purebred dog, one expects to see a temperament characteristic of the breed (i.e. a watchful, guarding temperament in a German Shepherd; a placid, friendly temperament in a Labrador). However, this is not always so - some Shepherds are very friendly and some Labradors make good guard dogs. The dog will, however, inevitably inherit certain characteristics of it's parents ... so when choosing a puppy, it is wise to meet as many of the ancestors of the puppy as possible in order to see the likely temperament of that particular strain. With crossbred dogs it is even harder to forecast temperament - it is not necessarily that of the breed that the puppy most looks like, so it is even more important to meet the parents.

Early environment plays a big part in the development of a dog's temperament. From an early age it is important that the puppy is gradually exposed to a range of experiences such as a variety of noises, new people, other animals, car travel etc. This should be done slowly and carefully so that the puppy is not frightened, but given time to investigate anything new and strange. A naturally bold puppy will be able to handle new experiences more easily than a dog with a shy temperament which will need gentle and patient handling. Dogs that are reared without these socialising experiences may remain shy and nervous when they become adults, and this often leads to problems when trying to introduce the dog to new experiences (like other dogs, friends visiting the house, or the arrival of children into the house).

Dogs of different temperament need to be trained differently. There are many ways of teaching a dog a particular exercise and your instructor will help you to find the method most suited to your dog. You will need to understand what sort of temperament your own dog has in order to get the most out of training.